COVID-19 and Changing Eviction Policies Around the Nation

The Eviction Lab

Princeton University

As the world seeks to contain the COVID-19 pandemic, policymakers across the U.S. are responding to the heightened insecurity so many face.

This new table details where municipalities, states, and the federal government have taken action. We will be continually updating the table and welcome tips regarding what your community is putting into place.

Policymakers across America are implementing a wide range of supports, from placing a moratorium on all evictions, to more limited moratoria for residents who can demonstrate lost wages due to coronavirus. We will soon release an additional tool to help differentiate between statewide actions.

For additional housing support resources, please visit JustShelter.org. For more detailed information about statewide orders, please see the COVID-19 Housing Policy Scorecard. Please note that as policies are changing daily, this table may not contain all of the most recently-passed actions.

Below the table, we also reference resources other groups have compiled to track different aspects of the shifting housing policy landscape.

The Eviction Lab table only includes utility shutoff moratoria that have been ordered by an executive or legislative order. Food & Water Action is maintaining a database of all water shutoff policies, including those that are the utility’s own policy or are mandated by pre-existing law.

A law clinic led by Emily Benfer, Visiting Associate Clinical Professor of Law at Columbia Law School, is also maintaining a detailed database of legal orders pertaining to the COVID-19 epidemic. Legal aid attorneys are encouraged to reference this resource and to contact emily.benfer@law.columbia.edu with any questions or additions.